The 2026 Winter Olympics keep rolling in Milan, Italy on Wednesday. The men’s hockey playoff is in full swing with the Quarterfinals taking place today and the world’s best teams in action. In the second contest of the day, Team Canada looks to continue its quest for gold against Team Czechia.
For those looking to get in on the betting action, look no further. Below, we’ll hit a preview, prediction and best bet for Wednesday’s Olympic hockey Quarterfinal matchup between Canada and Czechia.
Canada vs. Czechia prediction, preview
A couple of the four Quarterfinal matchups will likely be close, hard-fought games. This may not be one of them.
The Canadians saw their odds to win the gold medal improve throughout the Group Stage and are now a minus-odds favorite to take home the title. It’s hardly surprising when you look at what the results have been thus far, too. Team Canada has scored 20 goals (first) with 121 SOG (sixth), displaying incredible efficiency with a shooting percentage of 16.53% (first). The power play has hit at an absurd 44.44%. They’ve allowed the fewest SOG of any team with just 65 and only three goals against, also the fewest of any side in the competition. Now look at the results — A 5-0 shutout against this opposing Czechia squad, a 5-1 win against Switzerland, and a 10-2 drubbing of France.
Did anyone have any doubts the Canadians would dominate? There are 13 skaters in these Olympics with at least five points. Canada deploys four of them between tournament leader Connor McDavid (EDM) and his nine points, Macklin Celebrini (SJS) and Sidney Crosby (PIT) with six apiece, plus Nathan MacKinnon (COL) with five. Mark Stone (VGK), Mitch Marner (VGK) and Cale Makar (COL) have four points apiece. Jordan Binnington (STL) turns into prime Martin Brodeur in international play, posting a .950 SV% and 1.00 GAA with an incredible blue line ahead of him. Need we say more?
Czechia hasn’t looked nearly as unbeatable, winning only one contest in regulation during group play, dropping another outright and losing a third in overtime. The regulation loss came to Canada by a 5-0 margin, with the 6-3 win over the French and the OTL to Switzerland. The Czechs shook those off nicely in the qualifying matchup with Denmark though, winning 3-2 with the advantage in SOG and a goal on the power play. That’s something to build on, yeah?
After that fourth contest, one more played than Canada, Czechia has done a stellar job of limiting shots against with just 103 allowed, but 14 pucks have slipped through. On the offensive side, they’ve put the third-most attempts on the net themselves with 127 SOG, potting 12 in total. Martin Necas (COL) leads the team with seven points on three goals and four assists, and Filip Hronek (VAN) and David Pastrnak (BOS) have four points each. There’s another pair of three-point skaters as well, but the netminding remains a problem. Starter Lukas Dostal (ANA) has an .879 SV% and 3.65 GAA.
Canada vs. Czechia pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Canada is a -3.5 favorite on the puck line with -900 odds of a straight-up win. Czechia holds +600 odds on the Moneyline with the game total set at 6.5 combined goals.
What did Necas tell the media after punching his team’s ticket to this Quarterfinal matchup? “We let them win the first one because we knew we were not going to win two in a row against Canada.”
One has to appreciate the boldness of the Avs’ star, but his national team is David and faces Goliath on steroids in this game. Only a monumental collapse will result in anything but Canadian dominance. They simply bring too many playmakers with elite talent on lines one through four. Can the Czechs match that? Beyond Pastrnak, Necas and a couple more names… not at all. Canada won the first matchup handily and should continue to pick apart whoever’s in net for their opponent. Any kind of four-goal margin feels realistic, which is wild to begin with.
